The present invention relates generally to shipping containers and storage containers. More specifically, the present invention relates to containers for securely supporting panels, which can include glass pane panels.
Insulating glass units employed in windows and doors commonly are manufactured by sandwiching a peripheral spacer between aligned, parallel sheets of glass. One such construction is shown in Larsen, U.S. Pat. No. 5,439,716. The finished units are packaged and shipped to another location in which the glass units are provided with appropriate frames to form finished windows and doors. The insulating glass units, to which frames will be attached, often are produced to fill specific orders which may call for a variety of different sized units to be produced. To fill a particular order, pairs of individual glass panes are collected and stored in an appropriate rack so that the pane pairs can be readily accessed.
During the assembly operation, the pane pairs are provided with a peripheral spacer that spaces the panes from one another, the between-pane space being filled with air or other insulating gas such as argon. One pair of panes may be of a given size, whereas the next pair of panes may be larger or smaller, as the order requires. Once the pane pairs have been assembled to form insulating glass units, these units then are transported to a framing operation where the appropriate frames are applied. Here, also, one insulating glass unit may be of a given size whereas the next unit may be larger or smaller as required by the order.
A problem arises in the transportation of the individual glass panes, and of the insulating glass units formed by pane pairs. To support vertically aligned glass sheets against breakage during transportation, various containers have been proposed. One such container, referred to as a xe2x80x9charpxe2x80x9d rack, comprises a floor, an end wall supported at right angles to the floor, and a series of parallel, curved rods extending from an upper edge of the wall to a lower, forward edge of the floor, the rods being spaced from one another by a distance enabling glass sheets to be inserted between the rod pairs. Although containers of this type are appropriate for conveying vertically aligned glass sheets for very short distances, as across the flat floor of a factory, they are quite inadequate to support glass units against breakage during shipment when the containers are subjected to bumps and jolts, since the individual glass units can move upwardly and forwardly parallel to their planes as well as from side-to-side. The container itself, as described, can be wrapped horizontally with a heat-shrinkable plastic film in an effort to stabilize the sheets, but if sheets of different sizes and shapes are intermingled, only the larger sheets will be supported.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,206 provides a shipping container which supports each glass panel against movement in its plane, and additionally enables articles of different sizes and shapes to be positioned next to each other in a predetermined order. The shipping container allows individual articles to be inserted and removed without disturbing the other articles. A received panel has one corner disposed near the intersecting floor and rear wall of the container, with an opposite, free corner being diagonally opposite the first corner. The free corner is generally secured with an elastic, resilient, elongated restraint. The elongated elastic restraints are typically each brought to bear at a free corner of the inserted glass panel. The elongated elastic restraints, while highly advantageous, must typically be individually secured and released from the free corners of the glass panels.
What would be advantageous is a shipping container not requiring the individual securing and releasing of each contained panel, but rather providing for simultaneous securing and releasing of each and all contained panels.
The present invention provides a shipping container for holding a plurality of parallel panels, where the panels have a length dimension, a height dimension, and a width disposed orthogonally to the length and height dimensions, with the panels having parallel major surfaces terminating at peripheral side edges. The shipping container can include a floor, a generally upright rear wall, and a frame supporting the floor and rear wall in planes that intersect at approximately a right angle for vertically supporting the plurality of parallel panels with the edges of the panels being supported by the floor and rear wall. The panels can be supported in parallel planes that are perpendicular to the planes of the rear wall and the floor.
Shipping containers according to the present invention can have one or more sets of grippers mounted along the floor and/or rear wall to support and releasably grip the edges of the panels. The gripper have a gripping position for inhibiting movement of the panels and a relaxed position for permitting removal of the panels. The grippers can provide for gripping and/or releasing of multiple panels at the same time, not requiring securing and releasing each panel individually. A shipping container can have sets of rigid, stationary or immobile grooves along the floor and/or rear wall which can also capture and support the panel peripheral edges. In some embodiments of the invention, the grippers are formed of one or more sets of outwardly protruding holding members which bear against the sides of the received panels edges transversely, so as to force the panels sideways against immobile grooves and/or other, opposing holding members which may also bear upon the received panels from the opposite direction. In some embodiments, the holding members are formed of a softer, pliable material than the rigid portions of the floor and rear wall.
In some embodiments, the floor has a plurality of parallel bottom grooves for receiving the panel edges along the panel length, the grooves being disposed along the longitudinal dimension. The floor can also have a first plurality of upwardly protruding bottom holding members slidably disposed along a direction transverse to the bottom grooves and received panel edges. The plurality of bottom holding members can have a relaxed position for permitting removal of the panels and a gripping position for inhibiting movement of the panels.
In some shipping container embodiments, the floor further includes a second plurality of bottom holding members, also slidably disposed along a direction transverse to the bottom grooves and received panel edges. The second plurality of bottom holding members can also have a relaxed position for permitting removal of the panels and the gripping position for inhibiting movement of the panels. The first and second plurality of bottom holding members can be disposed on opposite sides of the panel edges, with the first and second bottom holding members being disposed closer together in the gripping position than in the relaxed position. Preferably, the first and second plurality of bottom holding members are longitudinally offset from each other, rather than directly opposed. In other embodiments, the first and second plurality of bottom holding members are respectively coupled to first and second transverse bottom carrying members transversely and slidably disposed along the floor.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, three sets of bottom holding members are coupled respectively to three transverse bottom carrying members transversely and slidably disposed along the floor, wherein the first, second and third transverse carrying members have a first position for urging the holding members into the relaxed position and a second position for urging the holding members in to the gripping position. In some embodiments, the first, second and third transverse bottom carrying members are operably coupled to a mechanical linkage such as a longitudinally disposed camshaft, with the first, second and third transverse carrying members being respectively operably coupled to first, second and third cams. The first, second and third cams can be carried on the longitudinally disposed camshaft such that rotating the camshaft in a first direction urges the first, second, and third transverse carrying members to a relaxed position away from confronting peripheral surfaces of a panel, and rotating the camshaft in the second direction urges the first, second, and third transverse carrying members to the gripping position. Here, the first and third carrying members may move together, that is, in unison, in the same direction while the second carrying member, sandwiched between the others, moves in the opposite direction.
In one embodiment, the rear wall also includes similar, side holding members for releaseably holding the received panel edges along the rear wall. In another embodiment, the shipping container includes a removable front wall. The front wall can be removed and at least partially received within the rear wall. The rear wall is adapted to receive the removed front wall, such that setting the front wall atop the rear wall extends the height of the rear wall.
One shipping container includes three rows of grippers along each of the floor and rear wall. Each of the sets of grippers can include three sets of transversely moveable holding members for bearing on opposite sides of a received panel edge. Individual, transversely moveable carrying members are supportably coupled to each of the sets of holding members. The transversely moveable carrying members can be operably coupled to rotatable cams carried on a camshaft. One shipping container includes a first, longitudinal camshaft disposed under the floor and a second, vertical camshaft disposed behind the rear wall. The camshafts can be rotated with respective handles for manually opening and closing the grippers. The invention thus provides a container for releasably securing holding panels, for example, glass panels of various sizes within the same sized container. Multiple glass panels can be secured and/or released along one edge simultaneously.